OREO TO GET PHYSICAL

By Derek Jory

When the Vancouver Canucks faceoff against the Colorado Avalanche tonight at Rogers Arena, they’ll be without forward Chris Higgins, who remains sidelined with a foot injury.

It’s still unclear what type of injury Higgins is suffering from and all that coach Alain Vigneault said after the morning skate is that Higgins is day-to-day and is “getting better.” Vigneault expects the Canucks to know more possibly this afternoon, including whether or not Higgins will travel on Vancouver’s upcoming road trip.

Oreskovich, who was assigned to the Chicago Wolves of the AHL on October 5th, knows he needs to make the most of this possibly brief appearance with the Canucks if he hopes to stay around.

Getting physical is the key for Oreskovich.

“I was happy with how I played in training camp, I think I have to play real physical, that’s the main thing for me to stay here and that’s what they tell me,” said Oreskovich. “I have to be a physical presence out there and use my speed.”

Oreskovich is coming off a concussion that kept him out of Chicago’s lineup for a month, but he said it isn’t an issue and he won’t be afraid to make his presence felt.

“I don’t think it’s going to be a problem, I’m not thinking about it. If anything it was a pretty mild concussion, but I made sure I took my time coming back and that I was really 100 per cent. I played this past weekend, I thought I played well down there, I played physical, and I had no issues. I’m ready to go.”

REALLIGNMENT

If Monday Night Football took up all your time last night and this morning you’ve been too pre-occupied with a drop in your fantasy league standings because Antonio Gates couldn’t score a dang touchdown, you missed a lot in the hockey world.

The NHL's Board of Governors approved a radical realignment plan, eliminating the current two-conference, six-division setup in favor of a configuration that features four conferences based primarily on geography.

Despite it being a game day, certain Canucks discussed the proposed realignment.

Roberto Luongo isn’t for it, or against it, he hasn’t had a chance to review all the details, but what he’s seen, he’s in favour of.

“It’s always going to be exciting, I think it’s fun to know you’re going to be playing in each city every year,” said Luongo, who will start against the Avalanche.

“We have a tough travel schedule to begin with anyways, so for us it doesn’t change much as far as that’s concerned. I think it’s probably more for the teams in the east that are going to have to make a bigger adjustment more than anything else.”

FAREWELL WALLY

Asked about BC Lions head coach Wally Buono announcing his retirement from coaching eight days after the team’s Grey Cup win, Alain Vigneault, a friend of Buono, shared his thoughts.

“I’ve got a tremendous amount of respect for him and not just the job he does, but how he conducts himself away from the field. Obviously he’s given this a lot of thought and felt it was the right time for him to be the manager in charge of football operations and you have to respect that.

“I saw a stat yesterday on a TV show and he has like 200 and something wins and the closest to him is Trestman in Montreal at 48, that’s amazing, it just shows the tremendous job he’s done over the years.”